Screened at the Beverly Hills Film Festival on April 9th, 2016
Full disclosure: I’m friends with director/co-writer Jeremy Profe
Personally, I’ve never looked into John Lennon’s death in any detail. I knew the basics that he was shot in NYC in the early 80’s and that he was pronounced dead at the hospital. So it was with great interest that I sat down to watch The Lennon Report. As this is about one of the most beloved people in music, the filmmakers had a delicate line to walk. How would they handle this and what would the message be?
The story told here, is of the men and women who tried to save Lennon’s life. The police who responded to the emergency call discovered who he was and brought him to the hospital in a squad car because the ambulance was taking too long to get to them. At the hospital, no one knew who had been brought in, just that this man was shot multiple times and desperately needed their help. Who was on the table had no effect on their methods and dedication, they did their absolute best to save a life.
The movie is well paced at 90 minutes thanks to smart dialog and careful editing that knows when to hold beats and when to move on. At the beginning it’s all about how two people get to the hospital: Lennon and Alan Weiss. At first, you wonder why the interest in Weiss, who works for ABC Channel 7 Eyewitness News. In what amounts to kismet, Weiss is put into Lennon’s sphere and breaks the news to the world that Lennon was murdered. The film appropriately moves about from Weiss, the doctors, the security of the hospital and the intensely personal tragedy that Yoko Ono went through that night.
I don’t know the budget of this indie movie, but I can tell that all of it ended up on screen. It’s fantastic looking and Jeremy Profe has a terrific eye behind the camera. Really well shot, I was surprised at the amount of single take set ups. Difficult to do but incredibly engaging when done correctly, their hard work paid off. A very small and intimate movie (there are very few locations), I was also impressed by the lighting work that added a great sense of focal depth and realism to each scene.
The cast is full of great up and comers as well as a few more notable highlights (Richard Kind, David Zayas, and Evan Jonigkeit). My main focus was on my two favorites: Walter Vincent as Alan Weiss and Karen Tse Lee as Yoko Ono. Vincent is terrific and believable, going from a funny thorn-in-the-side of his boss to a passionate, if not grating reporter to those working in the hospital. While Vincent’s acting resume may not be extensive right now, his work here indicates that he’s going to make waves from here on out. I’m going to keep my out for him. Lee has quite a few TV credits to her name and she blew me away with this performance. As Yoko Ono, she’s the voice that John no longer had. Away from being a celebrity that the entire world knew, he was a husband and father. Lee brings out an astonishing and a much-needed level of humanity in each of her scenes. Everyone else in this movie knew who John was, and is shocked by the events of the night, but they didn’t know who John is. Her whole night is a steady decline of horror and mourning and Lee nails every part of it. From the hope that her love is going to be OK, to her reaching out to a friend for help and comfort, to the ultimate loss and then concern for her son. I have a hard time describing the masterful work she does, you need to see it. Amazing casting find, these scenes could have ended up much differently with another actress.
With all the positive, I can think of two things that bothered me. The first is the soundtrack which I felt was often too loud in the mix, making it dominate a scene. and too literal. There’s no nuance to the music, it doesn’t guide you but tells you ‘this is how you feel right now’. Second, there is a scene near the end in a locker room with Barbara (Stef Dawson) and Dr. David Halleran (Evan Jonigkeit) that doesn’t work well. It’s a very important moment and the tone of the scene feels off as does the chemistry between the actors (it’s also my least favorite in terms of direction). In a film that’s so well done, it’s an odd moment that comes off as if it was pulled out of a daytime soap opera. In talking with Profe after the movie, he told me it was shot on the second day of filming so his two principle actors had no time working together prior to this very difficult scene (the production was shot in about 3 weeks). That explains why it felt off and hey, that’s the monster of film. You do your absolute best every day and work with what you got.
The Lennon Report is a terrific movie and a very promising launch to many new players in the industry. Careful and thoughtful consideration was given to the subject matter and to all of those involved in the actual event. Really well written, performed, and produced, the end product is one that can be held up proudly to  audiences.
